The alarm bells meteorologists rang on Tuesday proved harshly accurate on Wednesday, as a two-band lake-effect storm turned into a full-fledged blizzard and state of emergency across Erie County.

Though the region experienced a blizzard of similar duration in early January of last year, this one covered a larger area, with two lake-effect bands pummeling the region with 1 1/2 feet of snow, and lashing wind gusts of up to 45 mph across Buffalo and the Southtowns.

And if Wednesday wasn't enough for you, there's more to look forward to Thursday — with high winds and single-digit temperature readings keeping the winter storm and wind-chill warnings alive through early evening.

By midafternoon, travel advisories had turned into bans across more than a dozen communities to the south and east of the city. Many businesses, schools and public agencies heeded the warnings, shutting down in advance of the storm.

The Thruway Authority issued a travel ban meant to keep tractor-trailers off the highway, and flights were canceled or delayed.

“If this were in the UK, it would be a national emergency," said Peter Hutt, a native of Great Britain, after a stranger helped push his car out of the snow in South Buffalo.

Behind the widespread impact of the storm were two bands of lake-effect snow coming off Lake Erie: one over metro Buffalo and the other — a bigger, more potent one — over the Southtowns extending from the Pennsylvania line, across the Boston Hills and into the far northwest corner of Wyoming County. The bands converged over Genesee County and led to whiteout blasts of zero visibility.

The Skyway and stretches of the Thruway and Route 219 were shut down. Visibility in many Southtowns areas was so poor the Erie County Department of Public Works temporarily had to pull plow drivers off the roads.

Some of those who tried to remain open or flout travel advisories and warnings found the exercise unprofitable.

Multivehicle accidents closed stretches of the I-190 during rush hour, and 21 vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in a crash on the eastbound side of the Thruway near Batavia, leaving one state trooper with a possible broken leg. The accidents were enough to draw the attention of Thruway Authority Acting Director Matthew Driscoll at a state budget hearing in Albany.

Driscoll said his and other agencies consulted with trucking groups well in advance of a truck and bus ban that kicked in Tuesday night on portions of the highway.

“If people chose to ignore that … those are the consequences that don’t help anybody,’’ Driscoll said of the mandatory ban not followed by some truckers.

Pasquale’s Italian Restaurant in the Town of Evans was opened as usual at 11 a.m. Wednesday, but the owners told manager Lois Szczesniak to shut down the popular eatery at around 3 p.m.

“Very slow today,” Szczesniak said. “Everything else is shut down. We had like four tables all day.”

Cuomo, who was supposed to visit one of his daughters Wednesday, made a detour to Erie County instead to urge residents to stay safe and offer the state's support.

"We've lost lives in storms like this," Cuomo said at the state Thruway Authority facility along the I-90 off Walden Avenue.

Erie County leaders reported no known loss of life as of early Wednesday evening.

Areas to the north of the City of Buffalo, including Niagara County, were largely spared the worst of the storm's effects.

"It's actually really pretty out," said Chelsea Rosado, manager of the Village Bake Shoppe in Lewiston, where little snow fell and the sun shone most of the day, while a blizzard struck 20 miles to the south.

"It's weird, but it's good," Rosado said. "Everybody kind of freaked out and canceled all the schools and things like that, but it isn't that bad. It's just cold."

Though the blizzard that affected much of Buffalo and points south was expected to be downgraded back to a winter storm in the early overnight hours, National Weather Service meteorologists said there's still plenty of reason to continue to exercise caution today.

Early morning temperatures hovering around zero – or minus 10 in higher elevations to the south – will gradually rise to highs in the mid-single digits, said meteorologist David Thomas.

And while winds are not expected to reach the same fierce speeds as they did Wednesday night, they are expected to be sustained in the 20s through late afternoon. Another 1-2 inches of snow is expected to fall in metro Buffalo, while 3-6 more inches could fall in the Southtowns.

Today's winter storm warning is set to expire at 7 p.m. for Erie, Wyoming, Genesee, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. The wind chill warnings will also remain in effect through most of the day.

“Among those vehicles was at least one tractor-trailer which was banned from the roads and shouldn’t have been there to begin with,” Cuomo declared.

9 p.m.: Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed non-essential state employees in Erie County to stay home Thursday due to the extreme cold, high winds and heavy snow. The governor also announced that states of emergency are in effect for Erie County and all other counties affected by the extreme weather.

"It's actually really pretty out," said Chelsea Rosado, manager of the Village Bake Shoppe in Lewiston, where little snow fell and the sun shined most of the day, while a blizzard struck 20 miles to the south.

"It's weird, but it's good," Rosado said. "Everybody kind of freaked out and canceled all the schools and things like that, but it isn't that bad. It's just cold."

4:27 p.m.: What does a Buffalo 'blizzard' mean to you? Depends who you ask.

The crash was reported at about 2 p.m. near the 382 mile marker, police said.

1:52 p.m.: Cuomo was supposed to visit one of his daughters Wednesday.

"To get on their schedule is very difficult," he said with a smile during a news conference in Cheektowaga. "I had managed to get on the schedule of one of my daughters today, but ... I called her to say I was going to cancel because I was coming here."

She said to her father, "You really take these storms seriously."

He agreed and said he thought about that on his way from Albany to Western New York.

1:43 p.m.: "Most of you already know forecasting lake-effect snow caused my hair to thin," Don Paul writes. "Hey, now that I mention it, how come I was the only Buffalo weathercaster with a receding hairline? Safe to say, there are few if any safe calls with lake effect, particularly for placement, motion and intensity."

The company did not send out those crews Wednesday in Erie, Niagara and Orleans counties during the brutal lake-effect storm.

1:34 p.m.:What makes a blizzard a blizzard? There are three key criteria a storm has to meet.

1:22 p.m.:Buffalo police have responded to more than 60 accidents since 5 p.m. Tuesday, but only five resulted in injuries. Mayor Byron W. Brown said Wednesday that while a travel advisory is in effect, state and city officials will decide later whether to impose a driving ban.

There also has been no delay in police services, Brown and other city officials said during a midday City Hall press conference to address the storm.

11:35 a.m.: If you're headed north out of downtown for your afternoon commute today, you should be OK. But if you're southbound, you're in for a "miserable" commute, forecasters said Wednesday morning.

A lake-effect snow band that's dropping snow at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour parked itself over the Southtowns and up to the edge of the City of Buffalo. Erie County public works officials were reporting visibility of less than 50 feet in Orchard Park midmorning.

That band is expected to stay put in that area through the afternoon and into the early evening, said Kirk Apffel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Buffalo.

Erie County Public Works officials reported heavy lake-effect snow in Orchard Park this morning with visibility less than 50 feet. Motorists reported that conditions on roadways in Hamburg were rapidly deteriorating.

10 a.m.: Erie County officials stressed caution to Western New Yorkers during their first briefing Wednesday. "To underestimate this would be a mistake," said Greg Butcher, Erie County Deputy Commissioner for Homeland Security and Preparedness.

8:31 a.m.:Lake-effect snow hit the western and northern part of Buffalo up into Amherst and across to Clarence overnight and into the morning. Areas farther north got a couple of inches and the Southtowns, which usually take the brunt of the snow in these kinds of winter storms, were largely unscathed. Here's what Buffalo News staffers around Buffalo Niagara woke up to.

8:04 a.m.:The morning commute got messy as 3 inches of snow per hour fell on metro Buffalo. Travel advisories – meaning no unnecessary travel – are in effect for Northern Erie, Niagara, Orleans, and Genesee counties, as well as Buffalo, Amherst and Niagara Falls. Officials were keeping an eye on the weather to determine whether to issue any travel bans.